York and Durham regions, Pickering and Whitby municipalities, Scarborough district as well as Don and Humber rivers make the thriving Toronto greater area a familiar home from home for we northern England types.
What makes Ontario's capital - colloquially The Big Smoke and Hogtown - uniquely unusual is sexualities, colours, creeds and classes variously embraced into an ethnic melting pot, an all-inclusive blended mix eminently inviting to every British visitor.
The Exclusive VIP Pass grants complimentary access to attractions aplenty from Arcadia Earth and the Aga Khan Museum to Ripley's Aquarium and Royal Ontario Museum. Reinvention is key to the menu for the community's signature culinary creativity. Michelin-starred fine dining vies with uber-bubbly cocktail bars for tourists' attention.
With our currency currently strong against a fistful of dollars, and UK flights a manageable seven-ish hours away courtesy of quality airline Air Transat, the affably friendly Golden Horseshoe gives a golden opportunity to explore the welcoming land of the maple leaf and syrup.
Where to stay: Unconnected to Canada's foremost rapper, who popularised neighbourhood's 6ix nickname, The Drake Hotel strikes a similarly noteworthy chord, accommodating space that's all about that base.
The hotel is cooler than Distillery District chilled craft beer, with a welcome warmer than an Etobicoke Creek summer swim. It is ideally located to embrace the beating heart of the vibrant surrounds of Queen West, and perfectly positioned premises provide much more than a relaxing rest.
Modern and classic wings combine creative charm with community culture as style abounds all around among this hostelry featured in TripAdvisor’s Toronto top ten. There are 50-plus art-filled rooms complemented by outstanding hospitality, including elevated dining. At the live 'n' kicking events for clubbers keen to go Underground, it provides a cornerstone of the art scene.
Bolstering breakfasts, over-easy or sunny-side-up eggs on sourdough, are awash with reviving coffee, stronger than Midhurst muscle man Mitchell "The Moose" Hooper. Saturday brunch with a punch, fit for a drag queen, comes in the curvaceous shape of the country's longest serving host Miss Moço and fellow flamboyant female impersonators dressed up to the nines, made-up to the tens - vivaciously bending genders amid Absolut exuberance.
Where to visit: Polymath Odessa Paloma Parker's West End Art/Design Tour showcases "Fashion, turn to the left, fashion, turn to the right" - appropriately enough for the host who, manning mixing decks as DJ Weird Dad, soundtracked David Bowie Is … exhibition launch party - exploring eclectic galleries and haute couture boutiques, rich with material wealth.
Chinatown & Kensington Market Food Tour, courtesy of Culinary Adventure Co, hailed as "one of best food tours in the world" by Forbes magazine, literally offers a taste of two diverse districts via feeding stations serving dim sum to Vietnamese street food, artisan cheese and charcuterie to Jamaican patties.
"Brewing beers we want to drink every day," is the toast of the town during the Burdock Brewery tour and adjoining Kensington Tavern - the heady home of "food-friendly and refreshing" refreshments, session lagers and pales as well as wine-inspired grape ales.
Culture vultures flock to Soulpepper Theatre, a key cultural institution whose current season stages 16 striking productions, classics and originals alike, while creative connoisseurs go to AGO, with 120,000-plus indigenous and contemporary pieces collected within the impressive Art Gallery of Ontario, annually attracting one million aesthetes.
The Toronto Harbour Champagne Cruise sees Very Important Passengers immerse themselves in stunning skyline, dominated by Suicide Squad and Pixels movie star CN Tower, an engineering excellence soaring 533 metres above, affording panoramic views from its 360 Restaurant and, for adventurous adrenalin junkies, an outdoor ledge EdgeWalk.
And now for something completely different! Not Monty Python, but Bar Mordecai, whose Green Room leads to a dimly lit hallway, off which lurk exclusive karaoke rooms, each designed around themes invoking musical eras, our mics smashing Britpop classics ... not in a good way!
Where to dine (and wine!): Tap into Waterworks Food Hall hospitality, spanning 55,000 square feet of the sympathetically restored 1930s heritage site. The Euro-style food hall houses 15 diverse culinary artisans from Japanese ramen to Pakistani naans around three bars, spotlighted by an illuminated spheres installation and patios available as "ale fresco" watering holes.
For those among us who refuse to grow up, Peter Pan Bistro is the next best thing to Neverland, with gastronomic adventures available at the landmark restaurant with its stained windows, marble bars, tin ceilings and oak floors restored to original 1930s grandeur. Executive chef Noah Goldberg's menu seamlessly blends French bistro classics with homeland produce.
Imagine an upscale English pub with American brasserie heart and you have General Public - its ground floor green theme lush banquette seating and bar stools are complemented upstairs by a "peachy '80s" dreamscape. It’s the latest vehicle for Jenn Agg, an influential restaurateur who is the brains behind The Black Hoof, Rhum Corner and Grey Gardens.
Italian dining comes no finer than at the Michelin Bib Gourmand bistro Wynona, with its minimalist Scandi-inspired space and an intimate and inviting atmosphere. Chef Jeba Sritharan's weekly rotated menus boast charred pepper and ricotta ravioli, tonnarelli al ragù and branzino, accompanied by curated wines.
Linny's steakhouse puts delight into deli, times past evoked by a jazz soundtrack and white linen and delicious dishes from David Schwartz. There are comfort classics such as sauerkraut with berry jam-packed whipped cheese before Chantilly cream-covered caramelised apple cake, which would make the chef's eponymous late mum proud.
Cinematic dining experience Ayla Upstairs is the "reel" deal, helmed by chefs Kevin Shawcross and Danvee Kwok in collaboration with below venue Patois owners, fusing Hong Kong and Caribbean tastes in an appetising form of big flavour small plate sharers Drunken Sablefish to Typhoon Shelter Mushrooms in an intimate space adorned with nostalgic décor.
Whisper it lowly but speakeasy splendour is available at Charlemagne Cocktail Bar, an inky-panelled Parisian style bar above Cafe Renée, concocting classic and bespoke cocktails created by mixologist Gus Edmundson, and unsigned Suite 114's bartenders' project, fittingly Suite 115, where customers' flavour profiles are the ultimate (screw)driver of the best beverages.
Travel facts
Destination Toronto - destinationtoronto.com
The Drake Hotel - thedrake.ca rooms starting at £189 per night.
Air Transat - voted the World's Best Leisure Airline 2025 by Skytrax—offers direct flights to Toronto year-round from London Gatwick, Manchester, and Glasgow, plus a seasonal service from Dublin. Return Economy Class fares start from £407 pp. Book now at airtransat.com
5. Contributed
Be in with inn crowd tapping into Waterworks Food Hall outdoor hospitality Photo: Submitted